MPs call for end to cut-price alcohol promotions

A young woman lies on a bench surrounded by alcohol bottles after a night binge drinking. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

A group of MPs is today calling for a ban on "happy hour" drink promotions, saying supermarkets should also be prevented from selling alcohol at a loss to encourage people into their stores.

Citing research that showed the real price of alcohol has fallen dramatically, the home affairs select committee urged ministers to clamp down on irresponsible bars and pubs.

They found the "whole focus" of police resources was in targeting booze-fuelled and football violence, meaning officers were "hitting their targets but missing the point".

The committee chairman, Keith Vaz, said: "We cannot have on one hand a world of alcohol promotions for profit that fuels surges of crime and disorder, and on the other the police diverting all their resources to cope with it."

He also called for previously voluntary codes of conduct for the drinks industry to be legally enforceable.

Last week a senior officer said police did not need new powers to tackle errant licensees.

Simon O'Brien, who speaks for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) on pubs and clubs, said those selling drink irresponsibly were a "minority".

Ministers are reportedly considering a compulsory code for pubs and bars that would outlaw discounts and happy hours.

The rules could also ensure cut price offers extend to soft drinks, and put cigarette-style health warnings on alcohol.

The report also called for police to be given electronic notebooks to speed up the recording of crime.

Officers could then file reports without having to return to the station, the MPs said.

The Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, said: "This report is right to highlight how mistaken the government has been to try to run policing through Whitehall targets, which have proved an expensive disaster.

"The result has been a priority for trivial offences, the abandonment of local concerns and the swamping of officers in red tape.

"The best thing ministers could do for policing in this century would be to scrap the ID cards scheme and put 10,000 more police on our streets."

A Home Office spokesman said: "The government recognises the issues that the committee has raised and are keen to tackle them head on. We will look carefully at the recommendations and challenges highlighted.

"We know that the police and the public remain concerned about alcohol-related disorder - that is why we have given the police, licensing authorities and trading standards officers a range of tough powers to tackle alcohol-related disorder including on-the-spot fines, confiscating alcohol in public places and closing down premises that flout the law.

"Alongside this, the Department of Health has commissioned an independent review on the effects of alcohol price, promotion, consumption and harm which will be published shortly."

But the shadow home secretary, Dominic Grieve, said: "This is a shocking indictment of Labour's reckless approach to extended licensing and top-down target-driven approach which has resulted in perverse outcomes.

"We would reverse Labour's approach to 24-hour drinking, replacing it with appropriate application at local discretion.

"We would ensure that laws passed to deal with alcohol-fuelled disorder are actually enforced - and take robust action to prevent loss leader sales targeted at the young."

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